Dance and traditional African instruments are also part of the performance. / Kyle Healy / Provided

Robbie Luninze didn’t exactly sing for his supper back in 1994. But it was close.

He grew up in Uganda, one of a family of seven. “It was really hard for my mom to be able to take care of us,” he said in a recent telephone interview. “She loved us, but she didn’t know how to make ends meet – and she couldn’t. Many days we went without food. We would just stay in our house and sleep.”

Hoping her son would learn to read and write in English, she enrolled him in a literacy school. “I went there to learn to read,” he recalls. “But my real excitement was that with the lesson they would provide something to eat.” Later, another opportunity arose when representatives of Music for Life held auditions at the school and selected 8-year-old Robbie for their 11th African Children’s Choir.

Founded in 1984, Music for Life puts together choirs of young African children who then tour the world to support education, care and relief programs in seven African countries.

After travellng with the choir, Music for Life continued Luninze’s education.

“They took me through primary school and through secondary school — what you would call high school here — and then I was able to join college and a few years later I graduated, which was a big thing. In my family, I was the first one to graduate with a degree. So that was huge.”

Now, Luninze has returned to Music for Life, serving as the tour leader for the Young Africans, a group of 14 young people, now in their early 20s, who were once members of the children’s choir. They will be performing a free show at Aldersgate Methodist Church at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“We do typical African music with African instruments,” says Luninze. “We also do a few Western pieces: “My Redeemer Lives,” “How He Loves You” and many other songs. There’s dancing in each one of our pieces. The dances we do are really, really energetic.”

For Luninze, coming back to Music for Life after earning a degree in business administration was just a way of giving back. “I believe in what they do,” he says. “I believe in me being the testimony of what they’ve done over the years.”

He also loves serving as a mentor to other young people, helping to keep them motivated, letting them know that he has walked in their shoes. “Many of them come from similar or even harder backgrounds,” he says. “Some of the kids were really close to death before they joined the choir, before Music for Life came into those areas to be able to rescue them. They would otherwise not be living — and that’s huge. And it’s very good to hear such stories, because you’re like, wow. It’s a huge impact that is created in Africa.”